Tatum O’Neal Reveals She Had A Near-Fatal Stroke: ‘I Overdosed and Almost Died’ (Exclusive)

After struggling with years of drug abuse, the 59-year-old actress and Oscar winner overdosed in 2020, leading to a life-altering stroke — and new hope for sobriety

In May 2020, Tatum O'Neal overdosed on drugs and suffered a severe stroke, which left her in a six-week coma. "I almost died," she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

For her son, Kevin McEnroe, 37, the oldest of her three kids with former husband tennis legend John McEnroe, "It was the phone call we'd always been waiting for.”

"She also had a cardiac arrest and a number of seizures," says Kevin. "There were times we didn't think she was going to survive."

And if she did, Kevin and his siblings, Sean, 35, and Emily, 32, feared she might never walk or speak again.

For more on Tatum's journey toward recovery, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.

For the past three years, the 59-year-old actress and Oscar winner, who’s struggled with drug addiction for decades, has been in various rehabilitation facilities trying to regain her strength, her memory and her ability to read and write.

Her recovery has been remarkable. As she notes, “I’ve been through a lot."

Over a series of recent interviews, the actress — along with Kevin, Sean and Emily — exclusively reveal what led up to the overdose, and more importantly, how they are united in support of her recovery.

Related: Tatum O'Neal Posts Rare Photo with Her Dad Ryan in Honor of His 82nd Birthday: 'I Love You'

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, O’Neal had been using — and abusing — prescription medications, some of which were prescribed for her back and neck pain and her rheumatoid arthritis.

But on that day in May 2020, she overdosed on a combination of pain medication, opiates and morphine. A friend found her in her Century City apartment and she was rushed to the hospital.

It had been a difficult few years for O'Neal.

"She had become very isolated," says Kevin. "With the addition of morphine and heavier pharmaceuticals, it was getting scary. COVID, chronic pain, all these things led to a place of isolation. In that place, I don't think, for her, there was much hope.”

In the hospital, O'Neal was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that results from damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for language, according to the NIH. She was in a coma, says Kevin, "and had damage to her right frontal cortex.”

"At times, it was touch and go,” he says. “I had to call my brother and sister and say she was thought to be blind, deaf and potentially might never speak again."

Initially she could not speak or communicate when she came out of the coma. “She didn’t know where she was,” Kevin recalls. “She couldn’t say, ‘I'm scared.’”

By then, COVID restrictions were being strictly enforced and the family was not allowed to visit O'Neal in the hospital. They could only communicate by phone and video calls. “When Emily first visited her, she had to stand behind glass,” recalls Kevin.

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Over the next two years, under medical supervision, and with regular therapy , she has fought to regain her full memory, an ongoing process.

And while her vocabulary keeps getting better, there’s still a ways to go.  As Kevin says, “Emotionally the things that made my mom want to take drugs in the first place, those things are still very present.” 

In addition to her daily therapy, O'Neal attends twelve step meetings (often via Zoom) and is working on her recovery, all under the care of her physician.  

“I’ve been trying to get sober my whole life,” says O’Neal. “Every day, I am trying.”

Tatum's story is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Fifty years ago, her starring role in the acclaimed film Paper Moon alongside her father, Ryan O’Neal, made her an Oscar-winner at age 10, still the youngest of all time. Her famously turbulent relationship with her father has had many ups and downs. 

Her 1986 marriage to tennis legend John McEnroe was also volatile, ending in a contentious divorce, a custody battle and countless headlines. At various times in her life, she struggled with heroin addiction. At other times, she got clean for her kids. There were many trips to rehab. "I was an addict my whole life," she says, "pretty much on and off, for the past 30 to 40 years.”

Looking back, says Kevin, “She could always want sobriety as a mom, but she never really wanted it for herself.”

Now, he says, "She has embraced this attempt at recovery. She was always a very loving mom but when isolated, I think it was hard to find any love for herself.”

Kevin, a writer who has had his own struggles with alcohol and drugs, has now been sober for three and a half years. “ It was a road to a short life but now I don’t feel that way," he says. "And I'm so proud of her for trying.”

“In the world of recovery, there can be a moment where you feel, like, 'I can't keep living this way.' And I think that is what finally occurred,” he says. “Now I see an enormous amount of hope.”

“So to me this last chapter where she wants to live, wants to get sober, wants to learn, I think it's a miracle. I think it's beautiful. I've never been more proud to be her son. She's full of love and full of heart.”

“Every day I am trying,” says Tatum. “I want to be with my beautiful three kids.”

Adds Kevin, “She is learning to be with herself and find some love for herself. It's been hard but it’s been beautiful and it’s a miracle to behold.”

“All I ask her every day is just to try,” he adds. “I think we're both really lucky to have gotten this chance.”

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